Monday 19th January 2015 (series 72, prelim 11)

Andy McGurn · Post by **Andy McGurn** » Mon Jan 19, 2015 8:12 pm

Countdown recap for Monday 19 January 2015.

C1: Champion Neil Stephenson (1 win, 82 points.) A marketing director from Dumfries now living in London, scored a tie-break conundrum victory on Friday to become the current champion. Nick congratulates him on an excellent win.

C2: Challenger Adele Venner. An accountant from Devon who is a big fan of Dirty Dancing and has done a lot of dancing herself. She was impressed by Rachel Riley’s appearances on Strictly.

DC: Susie Dent and Tim Wonnacott.
RR: Rachel Riley.
OT: Other words or solutions.

R01: R S H N U E L I A
R02: T N L O I F P O E
R03: 7, 9, 50, 75, 25, 100. Target: 746.
TTT: USERSTAB - "The user has a stab at understanding the instructions but they are so complicated"
R04: D R X M U A O S I
R05: T S R A E O W T I
R06: 9, 4, 6, 8, 3, 25. Target: 972.
R07: P N S T O E A B E
R08: N C S H I U O L E
R09: 3, 8, 25, 50, 75, 100. Target: 845.
TTT: COLAICES - "Cola and ices are two things these people can digest comfortably"
R10: S T C I A E N Y I
R11: S R D G A U O A R
R12: N D B R E I A M E
R13: G T N W A U E R I
R14: 2, 5, 7, 2, 25, 50. Target: 313.
R15: F E I S T Y D I M (conundrum)

And now a brief interlude before our main feature:

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Enjoy the show.

Round 1: R S H N U E L I A

Neil: INHALES (7)
Adele: LUSHER (6)
DC: INHALERS (8) HERNIAS (7)
OT: HAULIERS (8)
Score: 7–0 (max 8)

Winning start for Neil has he goes seven ahead instantly, he may kick himself a bit for not added the R to give him the max.

Round 2: T N L O I F P O E

Neil: LOTION (6)
Adele: OPTION (6)
DC: FOOTLE (6) POOTLE (6)
OT: PELOTON (7)
Score: 13–6 (max 15)

Sixes are easy to spot here and both get one, its perhaps not too surprising that the contestants miss PELOTON, but that is one you would expect Susie to spot.

Round 3: 7, 9, 50, 75, 25, 100. Target: 746.

Neil: 743.
Adele: 747. ((7*100)+50)-(75/25) (7)
RR: 747. (7)
Score: 13–13 (max 22)

Neil goes for four large in the hope of extending his lead but it backfires as Adele gets the closest possible solution to level the scores as we reach the first break.

Teatime teaser: USERSTAB -> ABSTRUSE

Round 4: D R X M U A O S I

Neil: RADIUM (6)
Adele: AXIOMS (6)
DC: AMOURS (6) RADIOS (6)
OT: AROIDS (6) DIRAMS (6) DISARM (6) DORSUM (6) MUDRAS (6) MURIDS (6) RADIUS (6) SODIUM (6)
Score: 19–19 (max 28)

A six fest sees both contestants max the round and advance their scores accordingly.
Nice to see MUDRAS in there, it’s a meditation technique that has certainly helped yours truly beat stress at times.

DORSUM is the upper side of an animal, or the back in humans and similarly erect organisms
MURID (plural MURIDS) Sufi term meaning 'committed one' from the root meaning "willpower" or "self-esteem"

Round 5: T S R A E O W T I

Neil: WARTIEST (8)
Adele: ROTATES (7)
DC: TOASTIER (8)
OT: SWOTTIER (8)
Score: 27–19 (max 36)

Not the nicest word that Neil could get but it’s a max and he wins the round to go eight points ahead.

Round 6: 9, 4, 6, 8, 3, 25. Target: 972.

Neil: 975. Mistake in working.
Adele: 968. Mistake in working.
RR: 972. ((6/2)+25)*(4*9) (10)
Score: 27–19 (max 46)

Both contestants make a mistake in their solutions so it’s a zero pointer for both. Rachel shows a fairly complicated method despite a very obvious solution also being there. Maybe she thought the contestants would feel better if they thought getting it spot n was harder that it actually was.

DC Guest: Tim tells a story about a rare golf ball.

Round 7: P N S T O E A B E

Neil: PENATES (7)
Adele: STONE (5)
DC: BATONS (6) BEANOS (6)
OT: BONESET (7) NEPETAS (7) PENTOSE (7) POTEENS (7)
Score: 34–19 (max 53)

Neil incorrectly pronounces PENATES, which suggests he got the word from apterous. He won’t care about pronunciations though as he now takes his lead into double figures.

Round 8: N C S H I U O L E

Neil: SLOUCH (6)
Adele: CUSHION (7)
DC: LUNCHES (7) CUISH (5)
OT: LICHENOUS (18)
Score: 34–26 (max 71)

That’s a nice spot from Adele whose venner suggests she is confident person. She is back to within ten as the game passes the half way point.

Round 9: 3, 8, 25, 50, 75, 100. Target: 845.

Neil: 844. ((8*100)+50)-3-(75/25) (7)
Adele: 844. ((8*100)+50)-3-(75/25) (7)
RR: 844. (7)
OT: 845. (((75*50)-25)/(8-3)))+100 (10)
Score: 41–33 (max 81)

Given the difficulty of the one and only way of getting it spot on, one can’t really ask for anything more from the contestants as both are one away.

Teatime teaser: COLAICES -> COELIACS

Round 10: S T C I A E N Y I

Neil: ANTICS (6)
Adele: STAIN (5)
DC: SCANTY (6) STANCE (6)
OT: SYENITIC (8)
Score: 47–33 (max 89)

It’s a poor round from Adele as there were loads of sixes available. No one spots the obscure eight.
SYENITIC pertains to SYENITE which is a coarse-grained intrusive igneous rock with a general composition similar to that of granite

Round 11: S R D G A U O A R

Neil: GUARDS (6)
Adele: GUARDS (6)
DC: RUGOSA (6)
OT: AURORAS (7) SAGUARO (7)
Score: 53–39 (max 96)

Neil retains his 14 point lead as both have six, a couple of sevens were available though and maybe if Neil had been on apterous longer than he has he may have got one of them.

Round 12: N D B R E I A M E

Neil: REMAINED (8)
Adele: BENDIER (7)
Score: 61–39 (max 104)

That eight from Neil means that Adele will have to win each of the final three rounds to take the champions chair.

Round 13: G T N W A U E R I

Neil: WATERING (8)
Adele: WAITER (6)
OT: TWANGIER (8)
Score: 69–39 (max 112)

And with that max, Neil has secured his second win.

Round 14: 2, 5, 7, 2, 25, 50. Target: 313.

Neil: 313. ((50*7)-25)-(5*2)-2 (10)
Adele: 313. ((50-5)*7)-2 (10)
Score: 79–49 (max 122)

Ten more points each for the contestants enables them to increase their scores by ten. The game is already over of course.

Round 15: F E I S T Y D I M

Neil buzzes on 3 seconds to say MYSTIFIED which is correct.
Final Score: 89–49 (max 132)

And Neil gets a quickfire conundrum to take his total to 89. He is clearly a good player but with Tracey Mills “debuting” on Wednesday he will have to improve to have any chance of getting beyond a third win.

I believe its James that will be doing tomorrow’s recap so join him for that.

And of course, this coming weekend its COLIN, to those who are going I look forward to seeing you all this Saturday, it’s a really strong line up this year and it should be interesting to see who can be this years champion….
Best wishes to all the c4countdown community.

Further summaries are at:
http://cdb.apterous.org/series.php?series=72